Here It Comes, Another Covid Variant……….

It’s been a long time since I wrote anything about the Coronavirus. It isn’t because it went away, God forbid…… it’s because we have become accustomed to it. About a month ago, we welcomed another variant called the Omicron.

We are told it is 3 times more infectious than the Delta variant. But we don’t know if it causes higher morbidity or less than the Delta. Omicron originated in South Africa and then it spread to countries in Europe. Because of international travel, it is only a matter of time before it spreads like wildfire all over the world. 

Until just a few weeks ago, the Ontario government mandated that social distancing regulations be maintained in all public places such as grocery stores, medical clinics, pharmacies, etc. However, they cancelled those regulations two weeks ago. This didn’t make any sense to me as we just found out about Omicron at about the same time.

This variant is spreading around the world extremely quickly and will be a big problem here a lot faster than people think. And then the government will have to reinstate all the regulations they recently revoked. For example, some grocery stores had dividers or had someone standing directing customers where to line up before going to the cashier.

In addition, every store had places marked on the floor where people were supposed to stand when in line. This ensured there was enough space between customers and everyone in the store felt safer (at least, this is how I felt). Suddenly, all those precautions disappeared as the government no longer required them.

Although the mask requirement didn’t change, some people especially seniors, are walking around in the stores either without a mask at all or else not wearing one properly. Not only that, they are often standing so close to you when in line that they are practically standing on your toes.

What aggravates me is that no one says anything to them. The employees don’t say a word to these people and the other shoppers don’t want to get involved. I don’t understand what’s the matter with those people. Have they been living in la-la land or on the moon for the last 2 years? Don’t they know that the virus is still out there and everyone needs to be careful and follow the rules?

Many times when I see people in public places not wearing a mask, I want to ask them to put one on. But I’m reluctant to do so because you don’t know how they’ll react. I’m not brave like my mother. She has a habit of asking people if they’ve been vaccinated before they sit next to her on a park bench or a bus. If they say no, she won’t let them sit down and tells them to find another place to sit 🙂 🙂

Anyway, there are 2 types of people in Toronto. One group wears a mask all the time, even when they are driving a car by themselves 🙂  This is a little ridiculous if you ask me. The other group doesn’t wear a mask even when they are supposed to, such as when they are in public places. For example, some of our neighbours don’t wear masks when they are walking around in the public areas of the building. It’s as though they have some special permission or special immunity that no one else has.

One neighbour in particular asks us every time he sees us why we are wearing masks, “aren’t you vaccinated?” We tell him the same thing each time. Just because we are vaccinated doesn’t mean we can’t get sick and we have to be careful. He looks at us as though we are crazy or from another planet. Maybe we are, but better to be safe than sorry…………………

Nevertheless, Ontario started offering Covid booster shots about a month ago to at risk citizens. Two weeks ago, they started offering booster shots to citizens between the ages of 50 to 70 if their last shot was at least 6 months ago. 

As of December 15, the Ontario government will now allow anyone over 18 years old who had their 2nd shot at least 84 days ago to book an appointment to get the booster starting on December 20. Wow, this is quite a change for Canada which usually doesn’t act so quickly. 

It shows they are taking it more seriously and are being more proactive now. Last year they waited too long to get a supply of vaccines and didn’t have enough places for the public to get vaccinated. By the time they got organized, the health system was overwhelmed and practically collapsed. This led to thousands of people losing their lives.

However, things started to change rapidly a couple of days ago. I heard that the government once again put in place capacity limits for indoor venues that normally hold 1,000 people or more. They also announced that additional restrictions are being considered and may be put in place if the number of infected people rises significantly within the next few weeks. They stated they are not in favour of lockdowns at this time, but their emphasis is on getting as many people vaccinated with the booster shot as quickly as possible.

Well……….. if anyone thought we would get our lives back anytime soon………..guess again………